Anwar Al-Awlaki, who is currently subject to a kill-or-capture order signed by President Obama, was involved in the training of the Defense Department’s Muslim chaplains and lay leaders as an instructor at the Institute for Islamic and Arabic Sciences in America (IIASA) in the Washington D.C. area.

Controlled by the Saudi Embassy and operating under the kingdom’s Ministry of Higher Education, IIASA served as the branch campus of the al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh. The institute was certified to train the Pentagon’s Muslim chaplains until 2003. Many IIASA faculty members, who held diplomatic passports, had their visas revoked in January 2004 and the institute itself was raided by the FBI, customs and the IRS the following July. It closed shortly thereafter.

Awlaki’s role in the program was reported by Glenn Simpson at the Wall Street Journal back in December 2003 but hasn’t been mentioned since. Writing about the IIASA’s controversial role in the military chaplain program, Simpson noted:

Anwar al-Aulaqi, the former imam at a mosque in San Diego, also has lectured at the institute. A congressional report on Sept. 11 released this July said Mr. Aulaqi counseled two of the hijackers while they stayed in San Diego and then transferred to a mosque that both hijackers attended in northern Virginia shortly before the attacks. Mr. Aulaqi, who is now believed to be in Yemen, has denied knowing of the hijackers’ plans.

According to Simpson, at least 75 military Muslim chaplains and lay personnel were trained by IIASA.

…

An Al-Qaeda cleric’s participation in training military chaplains is less surprising since the program itself was established by Abdurahman Alamoudi, who was tapped by the Defense Department to create the program and who hand-picked the first 16 Muslim chaplains for the military, was himself an Al-Qaeda operative. Alamoudi is currently serving a 23-year federal prison sentence.

But what exactly happened to the Pentagon’s Muslim chaplains and lay staff that Anwar Al-Awlaki helped train and Abdurahman Alamoudi helped select is still unknown

During a lengthy presentation about Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula for members of the security industry in NYC, an Intelligence Research Specialist with the NYPD’s Counterterrorism Division today called Anwar Al Awlaki “the most dangerous man in the world.”

This assessment is based on Awlaki’s longstanding links to terrorism, his “proven track record of radicalizing Muslims”, his suspected involvement in planning & encouraging attacks (links with 9/11 terrorists, the 7/7 and 7/21 transatlantic plots, the Fort Hood shooter, the Times Square attempted bomber, the underwear bomber and more) and his ongoing propaganda campaign thru DVD’s (which he sells), web postings and the online magazine “Inspire”.

Officials say they’re paying close attention to the magazine which is written in English (with the involvement of two other Americans including former Queens, New York resident Samir Khan), promotes Al Qaeda ideology, publishes lists of potential terror targets (including cartoonists) and promotes tactics and strategies for attacks, including articles on how to build explosive devices (“Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom”) and why Muslims in the U.S. should wage individual violent jihad against Americans. Fortunately, the NYPD says there have not yet been attacks like the ones recommended in the magazine.

During the presentation regarding the recent attempts to detonate explosives in printer cartridges, the NYPD confirmed investigators believed the bombs were designed to explode IN FLIGHT and also that the target might have been passenger planes since cargo is often shipped on commercial flights.

The NYPD’s presentation was one of many regular briefs with private security officials who are members of the “SHIELD” program, considered a “force multiplier” by NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly who says the 7000 SHIELD participants act as extra eyes and ears for police, an important part of the “protection protocol” involving large offices and corporations across the city where the department can quickly spread the word about watches, alerts and potential threats including mail bombs and suspicious packages.

As for the naming of Awlaki as “Most Dangerous”, Commissioner Kelly said after the conference, “I don’t know that there’s a strict ranking protocol here but we know obviously that he has inspired acts in this country. Abdulmuttalab has spoken about Anwar Alawki’s counseling, you might say. We also know that Major Hassan who murdered 12 people at Fort Hood and wounded several others – he had contact with Anwar Alawki. We know that Faisal Shahzad, the Times Square bomber, claims to be inspired by Anwar Alawki, so I think it’s a practical sense, what Lieutenant (Kevin) Yorke was saying (the intel specialist), he has consequences here, in the United States. That’s what he was trying to bring out.”

CHICAGO—A Chicago man who was arrested last month for allegedly planning to travel to Somalia and engage in fighting with a foreign terrorist organization, was indicted on the same charges by a federal grand jury, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the FBI, announced today.

Shaker Masri, 27, who lived in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood, was indicted on one count of attempting to provide material support to al Shabaab, a designated foreign terrorist organization, and one count of attempting to provide material support by use of a weapon of mass destruction outside the United States. He will be arraigned at a later date in U.S. District Court.

Masri was arrested on Aug. 3 by members of the Chicago FBI’s Joint Terrorism task Force (JTTF), just hours before he was scheduled to leave Chicago en route to Somalia. Since then, he was ordered detained in federal custody without bond.

According to a criminal complaint filed at the time his arrest, Masri, a U.S. citizen, began espousing increasingly violent views to an individual he befriended in early 2009, and later began to openly express a desire to participate in a “jihad” and to fight against what he characterized as “infidels.” During the weeks before his arrest, Masri began to actively plan a trip to Somalia, where he hoped to join the specially designated terrorist group al Shabaab and commit a suicide attack targeting “infidels,” the complaint alleged.

Former Imam of the Dar al-Hijrah mosque Calls for US Muslims to Revolt

Anwar al-Awlaki was the preacher of the Dar al-Hijrah mosque, in Falls Church, Virginia.

The Fort Hood jihadi Major Hasan, the sole suspect in the jihad massacre of 13 fellow US soldiers in Texas, worshiped at the controversial Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church, Virginia. That mosque was led by the devout Muslim imam, Anwar al-Awlaki, who is said to have been a “spiritual adviser” to three of the hijackers who attacked America on Sept 11, 2001.

The preacher at the Dar al-Hirah mosque was also in regular contact with the Christmas balls bomber, who tried to blow up a passenger jet on Christmas day. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab sat on top of the fuel tank (seat 19A) and tried to detonate a bomb hooked up to his tiny genitalia.

Yemen-American imam calls for US Muslim revolt
A Yemeni-American Muslim preacher known for his ties to extremists [devout Muslims – Atlas] operating in the U.S. called on American Muslims in a new audio message to turn against their government because of its actions against Muslims around the world.

Anwar al-Awlaki’s latest message, excerpts of which were aired on CNN Wednesday, described his own radicalization after U.S. operations against Muslims and called on those in the U.S. to follow his path, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist Web Sites.

“To the Muslims in America I have this to say, how can your conscience allow you to live in peaceful coexistence with a nation responsible for terrible crimes against your own brothers and sisters?” he asked. “How can you have loyalty to a government leading the war against Muslims?”

Al-Awlaki, who has used his personal Web site to encourage Muslims around the world to kill U.S. troops in Iraq, disappeared in Yemen a year ago, according to his father. Yemeni security officials say they believe he is hiding in a region of the mountainous nation that has become a refuge for Islamic militants.

He was in regular contact with Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who is accused of killing 13 people in a rampage at the Fort Hood Army post in Texas. He communicated with al-Awlaki in e-mail exchanges 10 to 20 times over several months last year.

Al-Awlaki also is believed to have been in contact with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian who attempted to blow up a passenger airliner in Detroit on Christmas day with explosives concealed in his underwear.

“Our brother, Umar Farouk, has succeeded in breaking through the security systems that have cost the U.S. government alone over $40 billion since 9/11,” he said in an excerpt of the tape provided by SITE.

U.S. authorities have been increasingly worried about the presence of Americans supporting jihad inside the country. Over the past week, a Pennsylvania woman, who went by the name “Jihad Jane,” was accused in a plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist; a New Jersey man was held by authorities in Yemen; and five young Pakistani-American men from Northern Virginia were charged by Pakistani officials with planning terrorist attacks in the South Asian country.

Muslim who was pulled off plane for (allegedly) shouting about killing Jews: I never said that, and my accusers are paranoid

If only there were a Family Circus-style drawing from little Billy, because here’s what really happened: “He insists it was a misunderstanding over a conversation while he was speaking Spanish and English with a fellow passenger who was Italian.”

Never mind that initial reports stated that “witnesses told investigators that Asad yelled anti-Semitic references,” and “charged officers while he was in custody, using racial slurs and threats while he chanted, leading police to use a Taser to subdue him.”

“Toledo man put on no-fly list speaks with 13abc,” by Christine Long for WTVG, February 23:

TOLEDO, OH (WTVG) — He made headlines around the nation for allegedly yelling he wanted to “kill all the Jews” on a Miami plane bound for Detriot. Last night the Toledo man talked to 13abc’s Christine Long.

Mansor Asad, 43, says he wants to tell the community he is not a terrorist and he is grateful to be free. At his Toledo home, Asad is spending quality time with his new baby Camilla since he was locked up for two-thirds of her young life.

The father of five arrived home this weekend. The appliance store co-owner had to rent a car and drive back from Miami because, as a part of his plea deal, he is on the government’s no-fly list.

“I took a plea of convenience to come home to Toledo to be where people know me, to my community where I was born and raised and where they know I’m not a racist.”

Asad pleaded guilty on charges of criminal mischief, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest. He says he made the decision after being in jail for six weeks, just to get back home to his family.

This all began when he was arrested on a plane last month as he was trying to return from a vacation in Miami. However, Asad denies ever making a slur against Jews.

“I never once said I want to kill the Jews. I never once got in an argument, never once did I disrespect anyone on that plane.”

He insists it was a misunderstanding over a conversation while he was speaking Spanish and English with a fellow passenger who was Italian.

“I understand what happened. I understand people’s paranoia,” says Asad. “I’m proud, still to this day, I’m proud to be an American.”

But he’s not sure he’ll ever enter an airport again.

Not only is Asad on the no-fly list for the next three years. He will also have to serve probation in Toledo and pay $27,000 in restitution to Delta Airlines.